Why is Kevin Spacey in Baltimore while awaiting court appearance on assault charges?

Actor Kevin Spacey has been spotted in Baltimore recently. Scheduled to appear in court Jan. 7 in Nantucket to be arraigned on the indecent assault and battery charges, Spacey could face as many as five years in prison if convicted.

Actor Kevin Spacey has been spotted in Baltimore recently. Scheduled to appear in court Jan. 7 in Nantucket to be arraigned on the indecent assault and battery charges, Spacey could face as many as five years in prison if convicted.

As he awaits a court appearance for felony assault charges, Kevin Spacey has made a bizarre return to the public eye — and it’s happening in Baltimore.

The actor’s downward spiral began in the second half of 2017, when more than 30 people accused Spacey of sexual misconduct. In December, it was revealed that he had been charged with groping an 18-year-old man in Nantucket, Mass. Spacey responded to the allegations with a viral video that appears to have been filmed in Baltimore, speaking in character as Frank Underwood from “House of Cards.”

Scheduled to appear in court Jan. 7 in Nantucket to be arraigned on the indecent assault and battery charges, Spacey could face as many as five years in prison if convicted. In the meantime, the two-time Academy Award winner has chosen Baltimore as his apparent place of refuge.

Why, you might ask?

Spacey’s starring role in “House of Cards” — from which he was fired after misconduct allegations surfaced — brought him to the Baltimore area, where much of the Netflix series is filmed.

In an interview with Baltimore Sun media critic David Zurawik in 2014, Spacey praised the city and the decision to anchor the political drama here.

“We are enormously delighted to have our home in Baltimore,” he said to Zurawik after praising the quality of the local production crew and the way he and his colleagues have been “so welcomed” while filming on locations in Maryland that stand in for Washington.

The condo

Rumors also swirled last year in Baltimore that Spacey had purchased a condo in the Inner Harbor’s Pier Homes at Harborview — though the actor’s agent and friend Evan Lowensteinlater confirmed he, and not Spacey, owned the $5.6 million home.

The 9,000 square-foot estate boasts five levels, seven bathrooms and three half-bathrooms, six-bedrooms, both a spiral staircase and an elevator, a panoramic roof deck, a sauna, a billiards room and a home theater, among other highlights. It’s part of the 87-home gated Pier Homes at Harborview development.

A 9,000-square-foot mansion on an Inner Harbor pier has sold for $6.125 million.

One with the locals

Before his fall from grace, Spacey assimilated into Baltimore’s culture over the years, making public appearances in theaters, restaurants, sporting events and coffee shops.

The Baltimore breakdown

After a call from a tipster, Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton analyzed Spacey’s viral “comeback” video and found that the backdrop appeared to be the same as Lowenstein’s condo. Donning a cartoon-Santa apron while cooking (and intermittently sipping an unidentifiable beverage out of a mug), Spacey/Frank Underwood deadpans that he “certainly won’t pay the price of something he didn’t do.”

The video, titled “Let me be Frank,” has over 9 million YouTube views.

“Of course they’re going to say I’m being disrespectful, not playing by the rules, like I ever played by anyone’s rules before,” Spacey muses. His tone then darkens. “I never did, and you loved it.”

A few days later, Spacey, wearing a hat that said “Retired since 2017,” delivered a medium cheese pizza from Domino’s to members of the paparazzi staked across the harbor from the Baltimore estate.

“I know you’re just doing your job,” he told one photographer. “Keep warm and have a happy new year.”

Spacey’s attorneys have not spoken publicly about the case but in a court hearing questioned the evidence. A message left with Spacey’s Los Angeles-based attorney was not immediately returned.